Hamlet blues

For an LA project, my band-buds and I decided to write a song about the book we're reading, Hamlet. The blues seemed an appropriate style, so just imagine an old black guy from Mississippi (pronounced "Michael") singing it. We all wrote these lyrics together, but I don't think they'll mind me posting it.

[U]To Blues or not to Blues? That's the rhythm. (alternately titled "Woman Got my Mirth")[/U]

There once was a young prince
who lived in his head
He once had a father
his father was dead
Daddy's death was a foul one
put him over the edge
he came back with a message
that message was revenge

Family troubles are rearin' their head
Hamlet's losin' the fight
His uncle done married his mama
That's incest. (Alright.)
Poor Hamlet, they all out to get him
No one's joining his ranks
Ain't nobody on his side,
that's awful. (Teen angst!)

Well all the people around
thought the young prince was crazy
and they said he could not
tell a fish from a daisy
Was he crazy or was it an act?
Seems nobody could tell
But he knew a hawk from a handsaw
He knew it. Quite well.

This young prince had a girlfriend
she was so very fine
but her pa said "Steer clear o' that boy, now
that boy's losin' his mind"
So he did what any sane boy would do -
stabbed her dad through the drapes
and his girlfriend went crazy and drowned
like a rock-bellied snake

Girlfriend's brother come back from school
to avenge his pappy's slaying
Evil uncle comes up with a trap -
it's time for some poisoned épée-ing!
When the fencing match treachery starts
nothing goes as it should
The young prince and his uncle and his mother and his poor girlfriend's brother....
(And Rosencrantz.....and Guildenstern.....)
...all died! (not good!)

**** motha ****a, I bust out free-STYLE
Swift with the rhythm so don't change the dial
Yo' blues rhythm Hamlet would my mind beguile,
Blowin' out my rationale till I yell "ooh child!"

Cuz Hamlet got the moneys and the honeys and the ho's
But soft the fair Ophelia be suckin on his...toes

Yeah, bitch, that's right I'm bustin' it so won't ya take a look
and pay me very close attention I said HAMLET'S NOT A BOOK!

oooohhhhhhhhhh

It's a play, motha ****a, with a play within a play
And though that Claudius is fooled, the fooled is fooler in a day
And when you're fooler than the fool that fooled the fool in the way
I think you're foolish just enough to go see Hamlet and pay.

It's a dumb-show, motha ****a, and nobody speaks
Struts his hour on the stage although his message has leaks
Full of sound and fury like Macbeth but fury is weak.
And now he talks in verse cuz he's a poetry freak.

To be or not to be, boy, that is my inquisition,
To base this inclination on a mere superstition
To suffer slings and arrows or to cancel our mission
If death is sleep destruction's sweet, lethargic perdition

But, ay, in sleep we dream and perdition's no good
Eternal slumber could be torture, yes a torturous hood
And that is why we're slaves to fardels we'd put down if we could
And thus conscience does make cowards of us--men made of wood.

And says the uncle...OH MY OFFENCE IS RANK!
The young prince re-alizes that my deed is more than a prank
I killed his father...and I pumped up the crank
Cuz now I'll have to kill the snooping son, the ghost he can thank.

O I die...Ho-RA-tio,
And if I see you in the next world I'll say hi to your soul.
Goodbye now mother, though you've parted the fold
And with Ophelia to see me off I'll head to the cold.

So...you like it?

Yeah, we played and recorded that song and it is AWESOME. Full marks! I'm going to make Brendon post it on here somehow.

Originally Posted by: acapellaSo...you like it?

Yeah, we played and recorded that song and it is AWESOME. Full marks! I'm going to make Brendon post it on here somehow.

It inspired me.

I spent years studying shakespeare.... and stuff like this would have made it much more entertaining....

Nice... :D

In about half an hour we'll be playing the tape to the class. It's only a matter of time until we're household names.

We're reading Hambone now too...it's genius...but it bores the crap out of me.

It really caught me though, when 'O that this to, to solid flesh, would melt' came up. It's the line used at the end of Dream Theater's Pull Me Under.

Originally Posted by: ericthecableguyWe're reading Hambone now too...it's genius...but it bores the crap out of me.

It really caught me though, when 'O that this to, to solid flesh, would melt' came up. It's the line used at the end of Dream Theater's Pull Me Under.

Yep... once you start reading 'classics', you get to realise how pretty much everything modern is derived from them.... there are supposed to only be 7 original stories, and all the rest are derivatives...

Originally Posted by: zreynoldspYep... once you start reading 'classics', you get to realise how pretty much everything modern is derived from them.... there are supposed to only be 7 original stories, and all the rest are derivatives...

Yeah, I could almost believe that. According to Wikipedia, though, Hamlet is fairly derivative as well.